My body burns in its presence.
Having enjoyed numerous songs from their 2019 record Macro, especially “On The Top” and “lainnereP”, I was truly stoked at the announcement that Jinjer were returning in 2021 with Wallflowers. After all, Jinjer have deservedly generated a devoted following through their relentless touring and festival performances, and such experience lends itself to an innate excitement for new music within fans and newcomers alike. Perhaps as a direct result of Jinjer being posited to me as a rising star in the metalcore scene, plus my enjoyment of Macro, I admittedly had quite high expectations going into Wallflowers. What I found, however, was something that subverted my expectations.
“Call Me a Symbol” and “Colossus” open up Wallflowers, operating as a fully-loaded one-two punch that sonically slaps the listener into submission; both tracks meritoriously border on deathcore, particularly in the instrumental department. With Roman Ibramkhalilov’s chug-heavy guitars, the subterranean low-end offered by bassist Eugene Abdukhanov and blast-beat beast Vladislav Ulasevich, these two tracks are nothing short of deadly, and that’s before we add lead vocalist Tatiana Shmailyuk into the mix. The issue I have with “Call Me a Symbol” and “Colossus”, however, is regrettably one that seeps through most of the songs on Wallflowers: compositionally these tracks are absolutely sound, they just aren’t overly memorable to me.
Highlights from Wallflowers come in the form of the two lead singles, “Vortex” and “Mediator”; the former conjures visions of a spiralling, dizzying descent into melancholy, whereas the latter quite simply is pretty much violence incarnate. Offering their TOOL-esque take on modern metalcore, Jinjer incorporate intriguing modal choices in both of these tracks. Commendably, you would only tend to encounter this in more progressive subsections of the scene, and as a result these songs possess significant staying power in the listener’s consciousness.
Aside from the two singles, the only other track I genuinely found myself eager to revisit was “Pearls and Swine”, the sixth song on Wallflowers. Here, Jinjer best demonstrate their ability to craft crazy-heavy breakdowns without needing to tune down to Drop Z; this five-minute and twenty-second onslaught of aggression is actually only in Drop A, an arguably light tuning by today’s standards. This track is resolutely powerful, and shares sonic semblance with Gojira, which is meant as a major compliment.
However, Wallflowers lamentably fails to capture my attention enough for it to enter the ever-growing collection of competitors for my favourite albums of 2021. Largely, I found many tracks lacked identity and purpose in the overarching narrative of the record — aside from the notable mentions above, no song possessed “that” soaring, infectious chorus or “that” face-melting riff that impelled me to grab my guitar and learn it. Truly, I have a sincere amount of appreciation for Jinjer’s craft. I just expected to be absolutely blown off my feet and to fall in love with the band upon experiencing Wallflowers, but alas, it was not meant to be.
Wallflowers is available now, and you can stream/purchase the album here. For more on Jinjer and music in general, stay with us on Boolin Tunes.
5/10